Billy Hunter has been unanimously voted out as executive director of the NBA players union.

Player representatives voted 24-0 in favor of removing Hunter on Saturday in Houston. The decisive vote ends Hunter's 17 years leading the NBPA, although his attorneys have indicated there could be a legal challenge if he was removed.

The movement to oust him started during last year’s lockout, when some players and agents felt Hunter was not aggressive enough or prepared enough for the negotiations.

In brief remarks after the vote, NBPA president Derek Fisher, who had spearheaded Hunter's ouster, said: "We want to make it clear that we are here to serve only the best interests of the players."

The question now, then, is who will take over.

Among those already mentioned as candidates are former MLB and current NHL players union chief Don Fehr and acting Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms director B. Todd Jones.

But don’t expect a quick process, given that there won’t be any labor negotiations for five years and, according to some reports, that there was a good amount of anger directed at Fisher during Saturday’s meeting.

Powerful NBA player agent Arn Tellem called for players to take their time in finding a replacement, SportsBusiness Journal reported.

Tellem’s firm represents more than 50 NBA players, and he was one of a group of seven so-called “power agents” who held meetings without Hunter during the '11 NBA lockout about decertifying the union, something Hunter initially opposed.

Tellem had sent a letter to his firm’s player clients, urging them to fire Hunter. However, he said late this week that the agents who met during the lockout have had no conversations about the future of the union.

Unable to secure an invitation to address NBA players directly at All-Star Weekend in Houston, the embattled Hunter had released online his response to a report that criticized his leadership.

Hunter's lawyers say his 2010 contract extension was valid and the paid leave of absence he's been placed on is not. They say if ratification of his contract had been needed, it was Fisher's responsibility to get it, not Hunter's.

Hunter's contract was a central part of the report released last month on a review conducted by a New York law firm. The report urged players to discuss Hunter's future this weekend and said they had "powerful arguments" that the contract wouldn't be legal if an attempt to remove Hunter led to litigation.

The report by the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP was critical of Hunter's hiring of friends and family, questioned a $1.3 million payout he accepted for unused vacation time, and other items such as travel expenses and the purchase of gifts for executive committee members. Yet it found no evidence of criminal activity involving union funds.

Hunter's legal team "believes the Paul Weiss report is rife with inaccuracies with respect to hiring, vacation payout, investment strategy and other business practices."

An interim executive committee of five players placed Hunter on leave Feb. 1. Hunter's presentation that he planned to make to players this weekend says the union constitution requires a nine-member executive committee, saying administrative leave is not provided for in the constitution.

Nonetheless, the players voted to end a 17-year relationship that, as Hunter’s legal team pointed out, began with the union about $5 million in debt. He leaves the players association with net assets of more than $80 million.

Hunter’s online defense also points to pension and health care plans, among other gains for the players, and notes that NBA players have the highest average salaries in team sports at more than $5 million per year.